Photo found showing Lavrov and Montenegrin coup plotter together
An alleged participant in a coup in Montenegro, Nemanja Ristić, was seen in a photo with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, during his visit to Belgrade.
This was brought to the media’s attention by N1, a Serbian news agency.
As the Associated Press notes, Ristić himself has explained that he got into this photo "accidentally."
The photo also contains members of the Zavetniki movement, whose representatives told Radio Liberty’s Balkan Service that Ristić had no affiliation with their organization. At the same time, Krym.Realii noted that Ristić was seen at the organization’s rallies dedicated to the criticism of NATO.
Lavrov visited Belgrade on December 12th and 13th. He met with the President, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. The photo presumably was taken on December 12, after the wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery of the warrior-liberators of Belgrade.
Serbian political scientist and economist, Vencislav Buyich, in an interview with Krym.Realii, claimed that Ristić "maintained relations, among other things, with the Defence Attaché of the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, Colonel Andrey Kindyakov."
"And in September of this year, he personally offered me € 5,000 so that I would hush up and no longer write about the Kremlin's destabilizing activities in the Balkans. Of course, I refused," Buyich stated.
According to the Dnevne Novine newspaper, Nemanja Ristić, Predrag Bogićević, and Miloš Jovanović, were all announced as internationally wanted in connection with the investigation of a coup attempt. DN also claimed that Interpol declared two Russians, Vladimir Popov and Eduard Shirokov as wanted.
After the parliamentary elections in November, the Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro reported that plans to overthrow Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and a subsequent coup, including capturing Parliament, were being discussed in the country.